DICE executive producer Patrick Bach says "we nailed it".
January 3, 2012
by John Gaudiosi
Electronic Arts-owned DICE might not have won the sales battle against Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but the acclaimed game studio has won over
millions of shooter fans.
Battlefield 3 offers a very different multiplayer experience, serving up a sandbox filled with the latest vehicles, jets and technology-equipped ground troops. Now that the dust has settled and the developer has had some time to take a breather from developing
new DLC for the game, DICE executive producer Patrick Bach looks back at one of the biggest games of 2011, in this exclusive interview.
What were your goals heading into this game?
We wanted to create a game that strikes a balance between depth and accessibility; something that feels fresh and truly next gen. We wanted to create the biggest and best Battlefield ever. The most immersive and physical first person shooter ever. And we wanted to build the true successor to Battlefield 2 while explore new ground and pushing technology forward.
How do you feel the final game lived up to those goals?
I think we pretty much nailed it. I am very proud of the game and what the team has accomplished. I feel we have created a great platform from where we can keep evolving Battlefield 3, Battlelog, and the series as a whole.
What impact has DLC had on the development process, especially with ideas that weren't able to be fit into the final product?
Pretty much anything we wanted in the game, we got into the game. The way we work with DLC is we can expand upon the existing experience while being bold and experimenting to a degree. The Back to Karkand expansion pack that just launched is only the beginning in our quest to wholeheartedly support Battlefield 3. We will keep exploring new ground for Battlefield 3 in the future.
What are your thoughts on the fan feedback that the game has received?
We absolutely love feedback, and I am very happy that we have such creative and constructive players out there. The feedback overall has been overwhelmingly positive. At the same time, I think it is important as a developer to listen to issues that can crop up when millions of people start to play your game at the same time. It's almost like the game takes on a life of its own at that point, and we are listening to feedback and looking at how people are playing so we can keep fine tuning the game. If you have any feedback at all, we're grateful if you keep in touch and leave it at the
Battlelog forum.
How will that feedback impact DLC and future games?
Some of the tweaks are made to balance what our players feel are non-balanced situations, like the recent IRNV nerf (where the night vision scope was reduced in its effective range to keep it from being too powerful). On a more overarching level, we try and always listen to our community so we don't produce games in a vacuum. Case in point: After the Open Beta, we realized that our persistence system at the time made people rank up too quickly, so we tweaked it for release. It's the kind of thing you can judge and react on when the community really can sink their teeth into your game and that is hard to simulate at the workplace.
Can you give us any specific examples?
Just a totally hypothetical example: If it turns out every Battlefield player suddenly hate jets, we'll have to think about why. Is it the jets themselves they hate or something how they played in the last game, and if so, how can we make them awesome in the next game? Also, we have a lot of expertise here at DICE. We will keep creating games that we love to play, and hope that the community loves them just like we do.
Once your game was completed, what did you do that you'd been putting off because of the production schedule?
I haven't been playing a lot of games other than Battlefield 3 lately, so it's great to be able to get my hands on Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim, Uncharted 3, and more this winter.
How much time do you get to enjoy a game's completion before your mind turns to what comes next?
I've experienced some crazy
Battlefield Moments in Battlefield 3, and I love watching all of the crazy gameplay videos that keep popping up and I love to play the game. But once a game is out there, my work is more or less done on that title, and at DICE we of course have a long term plan for the studio and what we are doing going forward.
What's something that you're most proud of when it comes to this game?
My goal and my job as executive producer is to make sure that all of the moving parts in this huge game fit together, so I tend not to think so much in terms of what specific features I like the most. If there's one detail I'm most proud of when it comes to Battlefield 3, it's the fact that everything fits, the game feels like a complete and homogenous package, while having a unique personality and identity.
What's something that you would change if you had been given an extra few months of development time?
You can always do a bit more polish with extra time, of course. I wouldn't have changed any significant features with more time, though.
What do you do for fun when you're not focusing on game development?
I like to work out, play soccer, and go places. If there's something interesting to see or experience, I want to go there, even if it's to a suburb of Stockholm I haven't been, or the other end of the globe.
What's next for you?
I have noticed developing games is pretty fun, so I think
I'll make another one.
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